May 2014

Saturday, May 31, 2014

At the risk of sounding like a tour guide, I wanted to share this last group of pictures from our trip to North Carolina. The city of Asheville is in the Blue Ridge Mountains, on the western side of the state. It is a small city, easily accessible and pedestrian and biker friendly. In fact, when we were driving out of town, we saw a mass bike ride that was organized by the city Chamber of Commerce. Asheville is known for its art scene and there are outdoor installations throughout the city. It also has a great variety of restaurants and coffee shops, a lot of them supporting local farmers.

This crazy statue is at a restaurant called The Mellow Mushroom. It has been there since the 1970's. My husband and I ate there 10 years ago on our honeymoon.

The city has some interesting architecture. We loved how this wall was kept intact. Seeing the old building outline was pretty cool.

Another fun town that we discovered on this trip is Lexington, Virginia. It was just a random stop off the highway and we hoped there would be something to eat. We really lucked out! It is a college town, home of Washington & Lee University, which I have never even heard of. We happened to arrive right as the weekly farmer's market was closing, so we quickly walked through and chatted with some friendly vendors. We also bought some goat cheese from Kohl Family Farm. They sell their cheese under the name The Lonely Goatherd. Isn't that cute? (The Sound of Music was my favorite movie growing up!) I talked a little cheese making talk with the farmer. I thought the last batch of chevre that I made was too chunky and he thought it was because I used too much starter (even though I followed the instructions on the starter packet). When we got home, I tried what he suggested and it worked - much creamier goat cheese! We stopped in some interesting shops, including a store with old stuff (to put it politely) and a knitting shop that sold yarn made from recycled denim jeans.

We had a great time and were happy to eat good food, make new discoveries, enjoy time in nature, and get out of the daily routine for a couple of days. If you are ever in the area, the two towns are definitely worth visiting!

Wednesday, May 28, 2014

Welcome back to Hump Day Give-A-Way! I'm glad to be back in the routine after the bit of traveling I did. I have a really cool artist to introduce to you today - Mona of Mona Does Concrete. While cruising Etsy, looking for awesome stuff to share with you, I saw these concrete coasters with fun bike designs on them.

Concrete? Did I say concrete? Yes. These are 4" hand poured concrete coasters, sealed with olive oil, and backed with corked. Wouldn't you love to have these sitting on your coffee table? What a conversation starter!

After admiring the coasters, I read Mona's About page and was really impressed with her philosophy and the process behind the items that she makes. She strives to use green, eco-friendly materials and to think about the impact of what she is making and doing.

I then checked out the other items and saw this happy looking trivet, which can also be hung on a wall. Doesn't it make you smile?

The winner of today's Hump Day Give-A-Way contest will win ONE of the above - either a set of 4 concrete coasters or one concrete trivet/wall hanging. To enter, simply leave a comment below. Unfortunately, this contest is only open to my readers located in the United States (sorry Asparagus Pea - I know your love of concrete!) The contest is open now until Friday, May 30th, at 7am. Make sure to stop by Mona Does Concrete on Etsy to see her other designs!

I am joining Chrisy at Living A Good North Coast Life for her "Reconnecting With Nature" series. As we bloggers sit around connected to our computers, it is a great way to force us to step outside and maybe notice something new in the natural world or just appreciate something that we see every day. Read more about the Reconnect with Nature - one photograph at a time idea here.

"At the Beginning"

Grapes.

Pinecones from the evergreens on our property. I do not know what species they are, but I know that they are not white pine or hemlock.

Mystery fruit - nectarines?

Red raspberries and peaches.

Peonies.

Chamomile seedlings (look closely).

I think it is because I am taking photographs almost every day now, that I am noticing so many details in the natural world. I normally only notice the peaches when they are full size, but not quite ripe yet. I have never thought about pinecones starting so small and growing just like fruit. The peony buds are so round and beautiful and I have noticed in the past that they always have ants on them.

Tuesday, May 27, 2014

the joy of having a creative hobby that I really enjoy and that is practical too. I am so happy that I am knitting and that I have overcome my fear of patterns! I love that all I need to make cute clothes for my little babe is a couple balls of yarn, some needles, and my own two hands. And time, lots of time, which I am thankful that I have! Not that I have lots of free time, because if I am knitting, than that means the cat boxes are not getting cleaned or the floors are full of muddy paw prints. However, since we have been doing so much traveling in the past couple of weeks, I had a lot of free time while I was sitting in the back seat of the car and so managed to whip out this Beyond Puerperium cardigan in two weeks. And in case you are wondering what the heck puerperium means, here is the definition. It certainly surprised me!

This pattern was the most difficult one that I have tried so far. Knitting in the car, with multiple things going on at one time may have had something to do with that. Entertaining a little babe and following a pattern do not easily happen at the same time! I wish the pattern would have given a row count and told you when to place the button holes, instead of just leaving it up to me to judge. Mine are a little unevenly spaced. I did not want to spend any money on buttons, so I pulled these together from my small button stash. I think the mismatched funky collection jives with the crazy multi-colored yarn, which I absolutely love. It is Malabrigo Rios and is super soft.

It is a bit big around the shoulders right now, but I wanted the little babe to be able to wear it throughout summer and into the Fall, so this is the perfect size. She seemed to like it, perhaps liking the fun buttons a bit too much, as she kept pulling at the top frog button.

I wanted to share the book that I am currently reading. It is called A Life in Stitches by Rachael Herron. It is comprised of 20 different stories about her life and the role that knitting plays in it. Even if you do not knit, it is a lovely, fun read.

What are you thankful for today? I invite other bloggers to leave a link to their Thankful Tuesday post in the comments below.

Sunday, May 25, 2014

Today is the three year anniversary of Wallace's arrival in the United States. Wallace is the dog that I adopted from Romania. We picked him up from the airport in Washington, DC on May 25, 2011. It took many months of patience, many bags of dried chicken treats, and lots of quiet time just sitting in the room with him, before he was comfortable enough to come into the main house. Then it was several more weeks before he was willing to use the back door, instead of going through the garage to the backyard. Any frustration or inconvenience that I felt disappeared when I saw him relaxing in the house with the rest of the dogs, looking like a "real dog". Now, people who come to our house have no idea how special he is - which I guess is a good thing. It means that he is just one of the pack in our home, something that we thought might never happen.

This is the second picture that I saw of Wallace (named Jack at the time). The first photo was even sadder. When I saw this, I knew I had to do everything I could to save this dog and offer him a chance at a better life.

Wallace's first steps on US soil, on the way home from the airport.

A happy moment on our back deck during the first month. He arrived here looking so fluffy and handsome.

And Wallace now.

I love this dog so much. He has overcome so much trauma, fear, and distrust of humans. Wallace is now the only dog in the house that loves being brushed. His favorite place is on our bed. Two months before my little babe was born, Wallace discovered that he was able to go upstairs and that there was a big comfortable bed up there. He decided it was the best spot to be and has kept me warm every night since. Everybody deserves the chance to live a happy life.

If you are interested in learning more about the issue of homeless street dogs in Romania, ROLDA is a good organization. We adopted Wallace from their shelter.

My husband and I have also brought over three more dogs from Romania to the US and have found homes for them in Pennsylvania. If you are interested in learning more, I have several contacts in Romania that are always in need of donations to provide for the dogs in their care. I could talk about this for hours, so please email me if you are interested in learning more.

Saturday, May 24, 2014

You may have noticed some of the changes on my sidebar. I am currently taking an on-line blogging course and I've been playing around with some of the new blogging tools that I've learned about, trying to make the blog a bit more fun. Each week we have several assignments to do - just like being in school again, but now I'm studying something that I am really interested in. And no tests!

One of the assignments was to make a mini podcast. At first I thought, "No, I'm not going to do that. I'm not into all that techie stuff." But then I thought, well, maybe this will be fun. Spice things up a bit around here and step outside of my comfort zone. So here it is. If you're interested, you can listen to my wonderful voice. It is less than 2 minutes, so hopefully not enough time for me to bore you.

Thursday, May 22, 2014

Several years ago, when we were in our gardening glory, my husband and I planted three different types of grapes. We did not do anything special, just stuck them in the ground, tied them to our branch trellis as they grew, and were totally surprised to see that we actually had a couple clusters of grapes in the Fall! Then the next year we moved the garden around and the grapes were just left to wander on the ground. For the last two years, they have been propped up on a stretch of chicken wire, left to do their own thing, and I don't remember seeing any grapes last year. But on the same day this week, my husband and I both realized that we have baby grapes! A ton of baby grapes!

We have three different types, though I don't know what they are. I really like seeing the different leaf shapes and textures.

The one variety is later to bloom than the others, with the leaves just appearing now.

Maybe this Fall I'll be able to share a glass of homemade grape juice with you!

Wednesday, May 21, 2014

I am joining Chrisy at Living A Good North Coast Life for her "Reconnecting With Nature" series. As we bloggers sit around connected to our computers, it is a great way to force us to step outside and maybe notice something new in the natural world or just appreciate something that we see every day. Read more about the Reconnect with Nature - one photograph at a time idea here.

On our recent trip to Asheville, North Carolina, we had lots of chances to connect with nature. We were pleasantly surprised to discover that there was a bird sanctuary and lake only 5 minutes away from the house that we stayed in. Apparently back in the 1980's, the area was slated to become a strip mall. The Audobon Society bought it and turned it into a nice little area of nature in the suburbs. It isn't the biggest, cleanest, or most exciting nature preserve I have been to, but walking by the lake in the early morning made for a great way to start the day. The smell of honeysuckle was so strong in the humid morning air, it make me think of Tracey and her honeysuckle cordial.

Looking for tracks in the mud...

and we found some!

We also saw a Green Heron, several large toads, and some fish, though I did not get photos of those. On the ride over to the lake, we had seen a large flock of turkeys in a cemetary. Then on the drive back, they were on the other side of the road, just walking through the neighborhood. They walked right in front of somebody's house and as we slammed on the brakes, trying to get some pictures, we could see the homeowners in the house running and pointing out their windows at the turkeys. It was nice to see that they were so excited about a big funny looking bird also! When we drove on the Blue Ridge Parkway the next day, we saw another turkey!

The Blue Ridge Parkway stretches for 469 miles through Virginia and North Carolina. It has wonderful views and scenery of the Appalchian Mountains. We drove along it several years ago and just took a quick little jaunt on this trip. The wisteria, which we do not see growing in the wild in Pennsylvania, was just past peak bloom.

We also visited the North Carolina Arboretum, which made for a great morning strolling through the gardens and natural areas.

We saw lots of wildlife at this arboretum. Some caterpillars, frogs, and even skinks! My husband loves amphibians and has great eyes for spotting them. While I was taking photographs, he saw two tiny skinks sticking their heads out from between the wood. It took some patience to get a picture of them!

Monday, May 19, 2014

I am in awe of the miracles of nature. A little more sun and these twigs that looked dead just three weeks ago are now bursting open at the tips. We have leaves - real sized green leaves! A little warmer temperature and the ground that looked so barren is now filled with green stalks rising towards the sky. Here in State College, Spring starts very slowly, teasing us with 60 degrees one day, the dropping 30 degrees the next day. But when "it" finally happens, it seems to happen over night! I think if you could sit in one spot for an entire day, you could actually watch the tulip petals unfold. On one of the recent warm Spring days, I couldn't resist heading to the arboretum (again). It looks different every week! Here are some early May pictures.

The glass building in the distance is part of the Children's Garden that is still under construction. I can't wait until it is completed!

It wouldn't be Spring without sunny yellow daffodils.

The little babe loves "reading" the plant name signs. She stopped at 10 of them in a row! Maybe she'll learn Latin before English.

The large tulip beds were just about in full bloom when we were there. I think another trip is in order soon...

I loved the color and texture of these woody vines against the metal trellis.

I think this plant is just beautiful, though I don't know what it is. The tiny hairs on it are so unique.

And I loved these too!

Grape Hyacinths - another must-have for Spring.

And one happy little babe. I am glad she enjoys the arboretum as much as I do. It is free, it is outside in the fresh air, there is room for her to run, and as she gets older it will be a great outdoor classroom.

It was a pretty perfect morning! Hope your week is full of happy moments!